Full Metal Panic: Life after MITHRIL
by Nemoskull
Summary: DISCLAMER: i dont not own any rights to anything related to the full metal panic universe. this is a fan fiction. set one year after ch 90 of the manga. Sousuke and Kaname finally complete high school. their life together begins now, but old scars and new changes are not all way easy. - please read and review!
1. Prolouge - New Beginnings

A kiss. Not just any kiss, but an epic one. Sousuke Sagara had spent and entire year chasing after her, folowing her trail, even when others thought him dead. Even after the attack on Mithril's base when he was wandering alone in search of a clue, any clue as to where she was one thought had kept him alive.

_Kaname._

They had made a promise in Mexico, a kiss the next time they met, and now the time was here. It was now. For a moment during that kiss, his mind went blank. No calculation of sniper positions. No worrying about an ambush. No looking for danger. For the first time in as long as Sagara could remember, his mind was blank. Just empty bliss and the wonderful feel of Kaname's soft lips.

"Never let go of me," she said, still holding him tight.

"Stay by my side, okay?" she said, a question both knew the answer to.

"I'll never need a weapon as long as I have you." he replied, looking into her eyes. They lock gazes, until cheering crowds brought them back to reality. There entire class was there, jeering and cheering them on.

Sousuke stiffened and Kaname stepped back, face burning red.

_Really, _she thought, I've_ faced the demons of my mind, vie been in battles with giant robots, fell out of a damn helicopter, dodged more bullets than I can count, and I still blush?!_

Sousuke just grabbed her hand and told her, "its not a problem.". Today was graduation day, after all...

_One year later..._

graduation day, again. What should have been their third and final year in high school was instead spent with Kaname's being kidnapped and Sousuke's chasing after her. Unlike last year, surrounded by friends, this year found them all alone eating noodles together at some hole in the wall shop.

"Mission accomplished." Sousuke came out of no where.

"Yeah, but some how I though out last year in school would be more fun."Kaname said a bit sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"well, our second year in high school was full of friends and good times. This year has been nothing but studying and I don't seem to fit in as much, either." a frown appeared as she continued. "i never thought id be this unpopular. I lost an entire year being kidnapped, and never could talk about it. Every time I started to tell the story they all just kinda look at me funny, like I was some war freak or some thing. Never mind being the only 19 year girl in my class. They all thought I was stupid and lied about being kidnapped to cover it up." she took out her frustrations by savagely stabbing at the noodles.

"Every day was happy as long as I could be by your side." Sousuke stated. By now she had gotten used to the unemotional, dry almost lecture like way of his talking, but it made her happy none the less. She smiled at him and he smiled back. She did have to admit, he was right. Just his being here was a comfort. Despite they being official boyfriend/girlfriend, there wasn't much physical intimacy in the relationship. She had asked him to stay at her place many times, but he always refused. He wouldn't even fall asleep on the couch with her. It was getting her mad. He could be so stupid some times. No matter what, he still slept in his old apartment across the street.

"Hey Sousuke, stay the night with me. Please? I feel so much better if your there." she pleaded. His fork froze midway to his mouth.

"I am not sure this is a good idea Kaname." he sounded more formal than usual.

"WHY NOT!"

"I just don't think its a good idea." fork still in mid flight.

"WHY IS IT YOU ALWAS GET TO DECIDE THIS, IM SICK OF IT! GRRRRR!" she went back to stabbing her noodles again. She kept this up until she realized he was still frozen, fork half way to his mouth.

"What is it?" she grumbled still staring at her food. No reply.

"What?!" this time she glared at him.

Her glare softened as she saw fear in his eyes. This man, soldier through and through never hesitated to put his life in danger, but here he was, afraid of spending the night with his girlfriend. She just felt so much safer with him close by. Thats all she wanted.

"your right." he whispered.

"Huh?"

"you are right, I will spend the night at your appartment." his voice small and quite. Her smile beamed . She had won. Tonight would not be so scary.


	2. Chapter 1: the Unprepared Warrior

_Authors note: very sorry for the *super* late update guys and girls! this story is very near and dear to my heart. for the longest time i wanted to write a perfect story, but ended up just going for good enough. updates should happen a little sooner now. to my subbscribers, if you had not been there, i would have given up, so many thanks to you all! now, on to the show!_

They walked quietly through the night. Not saying anything, just walking like they had done a hundred times. Sousuke walked in his usual silence. The streets were dark, they had stayed at the noodle shop until it closed. It really was nice, the quiet city like this. A long time ago she would have hurried, worried. But now with Sousuke, she was more afraid for anyone who dared to bother her. Sousuke's idea of 'peaceful solution' usually involved gunfire or explosives, even a kidnapping.

She walked up the steps to her apartment, fished out her keys and opened the door. Sousuke followed her inside, more tense than usual.

_Sigh._

"Okay, what is it, Sousuke?"

"Nothing! Everything is fine!" R_iiiiiight, _she thought, grimace on her face.

She took off her shoes and walked in. Two steps behind her, Sousuke did the same. She walked to the living room. Two steps later, so did Sousuke.

_Sigh._ She could see a pattern forming here. She walked to her bedroom, two steps later ...

"Whoa, hold it right there mister!"

"B-B-But it's safer if we engage in intercourse on a soft surface!" He almost yelled, sweat beading on his face.

"What?"

\- Silence -

"D-D-Do you not wish to engage in intercourse at this time? I have studied all the avail-"

Kaname the sweet girl disappeared and Kaname the monster emerged. "NO! WE ARE NOT HAVING SEX TONIGHT!"

"Then some other night?" Sousuke asked innocently.

Kaname turned red at the implication of her own words before throwing a pillow at him while hoping it was something far more damaging.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU SLEEP OUT THERE!" She added a solid flying kick to the head that he – almost – managed to dodge. She threw him out of her room and slammed the door hard enough that pictures on the wall fell off.

Sousuke stood there, pillows in hand, relived. He had to admit, despite his research, he was still not sure of the proper procedure for what was commonly termed 'sex'. He had bought large amounts of videos and books on the subject, but was largely mystified on the subject. It was enough to make his head hurt. Kaname had many times invited him over, but due to his being ill-prepared for 'when a girl invites a guy to her room,' he had refused. He had apparently misjudged the situation yet again.

Actually, his head _did_ hurt. Despite her small size and lack of training, Kaname could deliver quite an effective kick. He went to the living room, laid down on the couch, stared at the moonlight, and listened to Kaname in the next room. He stayed awake till he was sure she was asleep. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

_Morning,_ he thought. Eyes open, not sensing any danger, he rose. The sun was finally starting its battle with the night, the darkness falling in to retreat to the light. Moving quietly, he started his day with push ups, mind attempting to process the events of the night.

It seemed Kaname's invitation to sleep over was just that, to sleep. But if that was the case, why did she say 'not tonight?' perhaps she was willing some other night? But if she was, how was he to know? On the battlefield, information was crucial. Information was freely shared between comrades. However, with her, half the time he felt information was a battle he was losing.

His mind turned over thoughts of Kaname and her desires until he realized she was standing in front of him.

"Morning Sousuke." She grumbled still half asleep. Then she sniffed the air. "You stink, Sousuke. How long have you been at this?" She managed to peel one eye open to glare at him. He glanced at the clock.

"Two hours, seventeen minutes."

"Go take a shower, I don't want my place smelling like man stink." He started walking towards Kaname's shower.

"Wait, Sousuke. You brought a change of clothes, right?"

"Um, no."

"Fine, I'll go get you some. Give me your keys," she grumbled. He did as instructed, then started his shower.

Grumble tho she might, Kaname really did not want to admit the smell of his workout was not, strictly speaking, entirely unpleasant. "No no no no no no!" she shook her head violently trying to clear the perverted thought out of her head.

_Bright light, ugh._ Mornings were never a pleasant for her, this one worse than most. She ambled down the hall, and manged the go down her stairs and up his without much incident. She stood at his door, fumbling for his keys. Opening the door, she steeled her self.

His room seem rather mundane. Instead of tables full of radio gear and ammo crates on the floor, his apartment was almost... normal looking. Well, discounting the military precision in the layout. He was freakishly neat, not something you expected from a 19 year old guy.

"Then again, this is Sousuke were talking about. He doesn't even know what the word means." she said out loud.

Remembering her mission (mission?! She was sounding like him.), she rifled through his dresser looking for cloths. Sousuke looked good in black, she decided. Pants, socks, a shirt, underwear. _Wait, what? Am I really going through a guys underwear drawer? _She had changed a lot. Before she had met him, she would have never done such a thing. Here she was casually holding his -Ahem- undergarments without giving it much thought.

She was about to close the drawer when her hand touched plastic.

"huh?" her expression curious.

She pulled more clothing. Guns, knives, hell, even a missile she would have expected, but not this. She pulled up a DVD case, not believing what she saw. She read the title out loud, just to make sure she was not seeing things.

"Age of Warring Boobs, G – Cup rebellion." then she found another.

"High School hotties, 2.0" she pulled the drawer and dumped out a few dozen more DVD's.

Kaname the monster appeared again and went on a small DVD bashing rampage for the next twenty minutes.

"THAT IDIOT! "

"SOOOOUUUUUSSSSSUKKKKKEEEEE!"

Sousuke, across the street, 300 meters away, popped his head out of the shower, swearing he heard his name being called...

"Must have been the wind." he said.


	3. Chapter 2: First Morning

_authors note: second upload. not sure why i had formatting problems the first time around, IYAOYAS, thanks for spotting that. passed 300 view, thanks! on to the story!_

Half an hour later, Kaname stood outside her own door, mumbling.

"Well, this is Sousuke we're talking about, but still..." She tried to calm down and not pop an artery from anger. _Breath__e__ in, breath__e__ out, breath__e__ in, breath__e__ out. Calm. I am calm._ After a while she was able to settle down. She decided to not grill him about it. That would be too embarrassing for both of them. Finally calm and composed, she opened the door carrying his clothes.

"Hey, Sousuke, I brought you your-" Her mouth hung open, words forgotten. There was Sousuke in her kitchen, cooking. From the smell of it, pretty decently, too. Not that she noticed. Sousuke was standing there wrapped in only a towel. She was not sure what was more impressive, his well-chiseled body, or the number of scars on it, or the fact that he was cooking her breakfast almost naked. She decided his body. He turned.

"Oh, Kaname, have any trouble?"

She blushed.

"NO!" She threw his clothes at him, her face turning red from embarrassment. "GO PUT ON SOME CLOTHES! YOU'RE DRIPPING WATER ALL OVER MY KITCHEN!"

"But the food-"

"I'll finish it. Now go!" He thankfully did as she instructed. The bathroom door shut and she sagged against the counter and tried to get her pounding heart under control again. _Was he doing this on purpose?_ The thought froze on her mind until she smelled burning bacon.

Moving deftly, she managed to save most of the bacon, though the eggs were a little over done for her taste. She was surprised and touched he could and did make her breakfast. She finished setting the table as he walked out.

"I'm surprised at your choice of clothing for me. Black is surprisingly good at evasion in an urban environment, and more so after night falls. It's always a solid option for covert ops. Did you have a mission in mind?" he asked her.

"Geez, Sousuke, can't you pick a color for a reason other than combat?"

"Why would I do that?" he asked clueless again.

"Never mind." she sighed. "Hurry up and eat."

"Thanks for the food." They both chimed in before digging in. They ate in silence, only the dull clinking of chopsticks making any sound.

"You know," Kaname said, mouth still full of food, "it's kinda weird, don't you think? No school, I mean. It's like, now what?" she said thoughtfully.

"I must confess the amount of time I now have free is a bit disconcerting." he said. "I'm not exactly sure of what I should do."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Get a job, I guess." She paused, then, "Hey Sousuke, how are you getting along financially? I mean, I got tons of jobs already, but all you seem to do is hang around me. Don't you want to work?" she asked.

"Well, my finances are okay for now, with the back pay from MITHRIL, but I will soon need a stable supply of income. Do you know of any one who is hiring?" he asked her.

"I don't, but Kyoko might. Let's look her up later today, okay?"

"Affirmitive."

Somehow Sousuke's trademark military form of talk was comforting to her. She decided today to take it easy and just spent time with Sousuke.

They managed to meet up with Kyoko on her lunch break. Her trademark twin braids gone, these days she wore her blond hair loose and long. Both her and Sousuke agreed it suited her better. They met up at a small cafe near Kyoko's work, but the girls ended up doing more talking than eating, catching up on old times.

"So Sosuke's looking for a job, huh Kaname?" Kyoko looked at the man in question.

"Yep," sighed Kaname.

"So Sousuke, what are you good at?" Kyoko asked him.

"Infiltration, combat, spec ops, weapons training and maintenaince-" Kaname cut him off.

"She means other than war," she told him.

"Oh, well … um … I have been told I'm good at cleaning." Both girls stared at him in surprise. "What? Cleanliness is an essential part of warfare. You can't expect to win battles if your gear or base is not clean. It could cause a hazard in combat," he told them.

"Might have guessed," sighed both Kaname and Kyoko at the same time. Sousuke just looked puzzled.

"Well, cleaning it is!" Kaname announced triumphantly. Both girls had a good laugh. Kyoko pulled out a camera and snapped a shot of them before they all got up to pay. They fought briefly over who would get to pay for the others, before letting Sousuke pay. He walked off to the counter.

While he was away, Kyoko whispered to Kaname. "So, how is life with your boyfriend?" she asked slyly.

"F-Fine, I guess."

"So, how far have you gone?" Kyoko was eager for details.

"Oh, you will never believe what sergeant dumbass did." Kaname's voice got angry. "I've been asking him to sleep over for a while now, because, you know, it's scary at night after getting kidnapped and all that. But he took it totally the wrong way! He went out and bought-" she leaned in and whispered the rest in Kyoko's ear. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Wow, I guess Sosuke really is a guy after all." Kyoko said, dumbfounded. All he ever did was plan for war and more war. She was shocked he had that side to him.

"I'm not kidding! He had like 30 of them! Seriously!"

"Thirty of what?" Sousuke asked walking back to the table.

"Uh, lipstick. 30 lipsticks!" Kaname laughed nervously.

"Why would a guy need 30 lipstick containers? Very strange. Maybe as a sealant?" He was talking more to himself now.

"Riiiight. Let's go, Sousuke. See you later, Kyoko!" They waved and left. In the end, they didn't get any employment leads, but they had an idea of what to look for.

They spent the rest of the afternoon getting applications for cleaning jobs. She had to admit, his apartment _was_ pretty clean. Evening was falling and they ended up sitting on a park bench, watching the sun go down. She leaned her head against his shoulder. She felt him tense up, then relax as he leaned her head on hers. They sat like this until long after the sun went down, neither wanting to break the spell.

Eventually, they found themselves at her door again.

"Hey, Sousuke, would you mind staying tonight?" she asked softly.

"If that's what you wish," he replied.

"But what about you?" she paused, uncertain. "Do you want to stay?"

"Yes." He paused. " I sleep much easier knowing you're close by."

"Yeah, me too." They went in and she went to her bedroom, him to the other room. Like last night, he listened until her breathing softened and slowed, before drifting off to sleep himself.


	4. Chapter 3: Together, but Seperate

Night. Sousuke was not sure what had awakened him. Eyes still closed, breathing unchanged, he sensed nothing, no danger. Still, something was amiss. He got on his feet, eyes adjusting to the dark. Window, check. Door, check. Kaname kept a baseball bat in the corner. An attack was unlikely to succeed. Still, cautious, he silently moved and picked it up.

_Something is not right._ It was frustrating to not know why. He sensed no danger. Moving to Kaname's door, he opened it.

_She is crying._ He knew pain, it was like an unwanted friend, telling you you were alive. He knew it well. He had been tortured many times before, but the pain that seized his heart was like nothing he ever had been through. He checked his pulse because it felt like his heart had stopped.

Her eyes tight shut, tears leaking from the corner and leaving wet spots on her pillow. He went to her side, knelt down, unsure of how to help. Her breathing was punctuated my small whimpers. Not knowing what to do, he gently held her hand. With any luck she would forget by morning. She tightened her grip on his, small delicate fingers curling around his. Her breathing seemed to ease and return to normal and her tears stopped. Sometimes she seemed like a force a nature, but now she seemed small and fragile, like a porcelain doll.

His legs were cramping by the time she let his hand go. He picked up the bat, left her room and laid down on the small couch again. He fell asleep with one more worry on his mind.

Morning came and Sousuke was up with the sun, again making breakfast. Eggs and bacon. Cooking was not something he had ever needed to learn. Field rations had been sufficient. But cooking, he had figured out, was cheaper. It was also something Kaname seemed to enjoy.

"Sousuke..." Kaname mumbled, standing in her doorway.

"Yes?"

She sniffed the air. "Food?" she asked hopefully?

"Affirmitive."

"Good." And without either one realizing it, their life together had started, over eggs and bacon.

One Week Later...

Kaname had ended up getting a full-time job at an office. Some regional office for some big, multinational company. It sounded great and glamorous, but it was a lot of paper pushing, typing and boring office stuff. Not to mention the insane security needed to get in. The office was mostly guys; she was one of the few girls, and had yet to make any friends. The guys did, well guy stuff when not working. Mostly talk about girls when they thought she was listening.

She kept typing. Entering data, filing reports. Turning paper reports into files on the computer. Sitting in her little cube, dull gray fabric walls staring back at her. She really needed to put something up, pictures, anything to keep the gray from driving her crazy. Her male workmates seem to have developed a sudden interest in the water cooler across from her cubicle. Sousuke had landed a job cleaning some big office. It must have been pretty important, too. He had to pull some strings to get recommendations from some of his higher up military contacts.

But it was harder than she thought. She got up in the morning, while Sousuke was sleeping. By the time she came home, he was getting ready for work. They usually managed to see each other over her dinner, his breakfast. Most of the time it was takeout. She was tired, and it seem all he could make was eggs and bacon. She loved the fact that he cooked for her, but she could only stomach so much eggs and bacon.

Night time was hard on her. After just a week she had gotten so used to him there, then having him gone at night was hard on her. But that was life. She knew he would saver her, always. Somehow.

She went back to typing. Her focus on turning Japanese characters into Romanjii and then back into Japanese characters was interrupted by a male workmate.

"So, you are Kaname, right?" he said, leaning by the entrance of her cubicle.

"And you are?" she said, still typing.

"Ryuji Takani." he answered cockily.

"Well, that's good to know," she answered, still tying away.

"So, some of us are getting together for some drinks after work, you want to come?"

"Nope." Tone dripping ice. Still typing.

"Oh, okay, then." He deflated and sulked away. She kept typing. Three more hours until she got off. Three more hours.

Three hours and thirty minutes later, she was on a train headed home. The sun was setting, and she was bored. By now she had knew who got off at what stop. There was the old man and the otuka who got on with here, next stop was the creeper, who got off a stop before her, and a few businessmen. The creeper was, as usual, creepy. He usually went after older women, just staring. But today he was staring at her.

"What?!" she asked him.

"You're pretty ..." he responded, creepy smile on his face.

"And my boyfriend's a mercenary," she told him. His smile disappeared. He suddenly seemed real interested in studying his hands. He got off at his stop, and she at hers.

The walk home was not as easy as she remembered. She hurried home and sagged on the door.

"Kaname?" Sousuke asked.

"Sousuke! I'm home!"

"How was work?" he asked, getting dressed, takeout on the table.

"Okay. Some guys at work are bothering me. They go after anything with boobs and a pulse, I guess," she said angrily.

"Understood. I will be sure to dispose of them throughly. No trace will be left behind-" WACK! Her shoe impacted with his head.

"No kidnapping!" she yelled.

"Very well, I suppose a precision explosive can be used instead to neutralize the target."

"You're not blowing up my workmates!" she yelled and threw her hands up in the air. "Why are you always like this? WHY CANT YOU BE NORMAL!"

"Kaname, I'm-" she cut him off as she stomped to her room and slammed the door.

"Sorry," he told the door. But it was too late. He finished getting dressed for work, then went out the door.

As he walked to the train station, he wondered why she was so mad. He did admit, perhaps, a simple threat might work, but he did not understand why she was so upset.

"Maybe I should ask Webber," he said out loud. He got to the train and spent the rest of the ride pondering the best course of action. Relationships were a new and frighteningly unknown battlefield. No, more like a minefield, in the dark, with no moon or stars overhead. He sighed on the inside. This was his stop, and he was no nearer to understanding her then he was when he got on the train.

He got off the train, exited the station and walked to the building he was assigned to clean. He used his pass to get in the door, then was checked out by security, went up stairs, checked in again with security and finally made his way to the janitor's office. His two workmates, an old, gray man who called himself Bob, and a second old man named Bill, were already there. They had the look of military men, or had been long ago. Very, very long ago. He wondered if they saw action with the Imperial Japanese Army, or maybe with the US Navy. Most likely the U.S Navy. They didn't talk much, mostly in one or two word replies.

"Trouble?" Bob's ancient voice asked him.

"Well, yes. Some," Sousuke replied.

"Woman?" Bill chimed in.

"Affirmitive." They both nodded in unison to Sousuke's reply.

"Bad?" asked Bob again.

"Well, I am not really sure. Then again I am never really sure what she is thinking most of the time."

Bob just grunted a noncommittal reply.

"Surely in your combined years of experience, you have some advice or course of action that may help in this situation?" he asked them.

"Flowers," Bob replied.

"Chocolates," Bill said.

"That's it? But that does not seem to help identify the problem at all..."

"Nope," they both replied.

"But then how do I acquire the information needed to please Kaname?"

"Luck," said one.

"Damage control," said the other.

"So you're saying, all I can do is attempt to repair the damage, and hope for the best?"

"Yep."

"With flowers and chocolates," Sousuke said doubtfully.

"Roses best," one said.

Sousuke pondered this while doing his rounds. Aside from the heavy security, the work itself was rather mundane. The pay was good, and it was pretty much standard office cleaning. The night passed and soon the first vestige of day approached. The three janitors clocked out, passed through security again and parted ways. It was too soon to buy flowers, he decided. Not many shops were open this early. He went home, opened the door, and soon passed out on the couch.


	5. Chapter 4: A Day Like any Other

_A.N. Thanks for the review!_

_Iyaoyas: yes, It was webber! Tho ill get to that later ;)_

_GoldenGryphon: I love the mundaness too! I wanted to see life after all the excitement._

_Short chapter this time. Not feeling very well this week. _

_Speaking of, I guess ill make it offical, I will be updating (or trying to!) on the weekend. Target for this story is at -least- 40k. Thanks again for all the support!_

Kaname woke to the sound of her alarm chirping. She blindly attempted to turn it off and finally got the thing to shut up on the third try. She managed to get more or less into an upright position on the bed. After sitting there half asleep for a while, she managed to stand up. Grumbling, she dragged herself to the bathroom and got in the shower. As the water pounded her sleep away, her mind started to wake up. She mostly thought about Sousuke. He was such an idiot. He never seemed to learn. It was war this, blow up that. Really, the nerve of the guy. Why couldn't he just _pretend_ to be normal?!

By the time she was out of the shower, she was only getting angrier. Her mood didn't improve when she saw blood stains on her panties.

"Great, mother nature just HAD to make my morning worse."

Even though she knew a lot of her irritation with Sousuke was hormonal, it really didn't make any difference. _He has lived through worse, he'll be fine_. She finished getting dressed and left the bathroom. Usually, the sight of him was calming to her, but today he was drooling on the couch and that just pissed her off even more. _I had better leave before I really let him have it._

She stomped out the door and slammed it hard. Fuming all the way to the train, she boarded and sat down. She got to work, sat down and tried focusing on her work. Eventually she was absorbed in the mundane mountain of paperwork that all companies seemed to live on.

Her typing was interrupted by Takani. He walked by and set down a canned coffee on her desk.

"Sorry about yesterday," he said

"You mean when you interrupted my work, like you're doing again?" she spat back.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Sorry." With a disturbingly charming smile, he went back to whatever he did.

Kaname went back to typing. Lunch time finally arrived, and she took her break and bought something not very good from a vending machine. Eating alone, she started feeling sorry for Sosuke. He was really trying his best. And it's not like she _actually _wanted him to be normal. If he had been, she would probably be dead.

_It's not him, it's me, _she admitted quietly to herself.

Break was almost over. Clearing her thoughts, she got back to the task at hand, namely, turning a small, but ever growing pile back into a smaller pile. If she was lucky, she might actually see the bottom of the "in" pile.

The day passed, and it was time to leave. As she headed for the door, a female coworker flagged her down with a giant smile. A group that was going to karaoke was inviting her to come along. Kaname really needed to make some friends at work, so she decided to tag along. At least for a little while. She didn't want Sousuke worrying too much.


	6. Chapter 5: A Night to Remember

_Author's note: I'm writing this from Sousuke's POV just for the hell of it. (It's my story, I think?) It's my first POV._

Sousuke POV...

I woke up after the sun had set. The house was dark, but then again darkness was a friend. I had spent many nights on covert ops under the cover of darkness. But it was odd Kaname was not home yet. She sometimes ran late getting dinner. It seems she does not appreciate the value of eggs and bacon. It was full of protein.

Having some time until she arrived, I got dressed and went for a short run. More of a sprint, actually. After the third lap, not seeing any sign of Kaname, I headed back to the apartment. Still no Kaname. Maybe she had been kidnapped ... no. There is no reasons for anyone to kidnap her anymore. She was no longer a Whispered. She was just an average girl now.

I looked at the clock, _8:30_. She's almost always home by now. Something seemed off, she had never come home late and had always checked in with me if she was taking a trip. This must be work-related. She did seem to excel at whatever she did.

_I'm sure she is just working late._

_8:34 _... Push ups helped, I remembered. I had time before I needed to be at work, and the job was easy enough. Shirt off, I tried to focus on the feel, the burn. But still … Kaname was late. Too late. She hasd never been this late. But she was no longer a Whispered. No one should have been after her anymore.

_But she is still a woman. _

Perhaps she ran afoul of … certain people. People who want her body ...

_8:57... W_hen I thought about it, I didn't even know where she worked. I didn't know what path she took home. I didn't know anything. Maybe it's in some seedy part of town ... I know she does filing, but what if it's just a front company?

_How did I get so sloppy?_

The thought burned through my mind, mocking me, because it was true. I had gotten sloppy. I didn't know where she was, or what she did. I blindly trusted that the danger was over. I was too caught up in trying to live her life, the life she wanted, a civilian's life.

_She was wrong. No, I was wrong._

It had always been my duty to protect her, as a soldier or as her boyfriend.

_I have failed._

They say the truth hurts, and it did.

_This is not the time for that._

Right. First information. I knew she kept important papers in her desk. I decided to search there first. Opening her door felt wrong, somehow. _Never mind. _Desk. She kept a lot of paperwork.

After a bit I realized there's nothing helpful here. But at the bottom of the drawer was a diary. I knew it was wrong to read this, but I had to know.

_Page 93._

_Today Sosuke made me breakfast! I can't believe he could cook! He looked hot in the kitchen, with just a towel on. I yelled at him but really was just embarrassed. I mean, he was almost naked._

Hot? I wasn't sure how to interpret that. But never mind.

_Page 95._

_Job hunting with Sosuke. Was nice to go on a date again. I really miss him when he is not around. I feel, I dunno, empty, kinda. We saw Kyoko, had lunch. Told her about his porno DVDs. I feel kinda bad that I broke them. But seriously! What's his problem. This was probably Webber's idea ..._

Webber? I did ask him about what being asked to stay over at a girl's house meant. He gave me a list of what he called research material ... it seems perhaps Webber was not the best of sources. Although he and Mao seem to be doing fine.

_Page 101._

_Today I got hit on by a guy name Takani, or something like that. Jerk! Like I can''t hear them talk. 'Hey dude, so who has the hottest rack?' Crap like that. Well, at least I am at the top of their list. But still ..._

Too far.

_Page 99._

_Got hired today! Not far from here. A company named _Histar International. _The work seems easy._

Histar International, The same company I worked at. That meant she took the same route as I did. If there had been a problem, it most likely would have been near her work. Not much happened on this end at night.

Glancing at a picture of her, I sprinted to my apartment across the street.

Unlocking the door, it felt empty. Cold. Lifeless. Although nothing had changed, it did not feel like home.

_Because she is not here_.

Pushing that thought aside, I went to the closet and pulled out a chest. The day after I had met Kaname, the day after our first, well, only kiss, I had told her I did not need guns. So I had put them all away. Opening this somehow felt like a betrayal.

Inside everything was neatly put away, just as I had left it over a year ago. I pulled out a sat phone, my gun, a Glock 9mm, a box of ammo, stun grenades, knife, a block of C4 and a few detonators.

On second thought, I took some non-lethal rounds for the Glock. Kaname would want it that way. Four clips, three with rubber bullets, the last with anti-personal hollow points, just in case. The gun went holstered at the small of my back, C4 and grenades into my cargo pants. Boots on, knife in boots. I grabbed a backpack, and tossed in night vision goggles, repelling gear, infrared scanner, 40mm grenade launcher and some high explosive 40mm rounds. I grabbed some tear gas rounds a couple of masks as an afterthought. And a map, I almost forgot a map. That went in as well.

Gripping the sat phone and slinging the backpack on, I took off toward the train station. I glanced at my watch.

_10:31_

One last check of our apartment. Still dark.

I made my way to the train station, falling into old habits, staying in the shadows, avoiding contact. That station was up ahead. Trying to blend in, I bought a paper and boarded the train. Although it's bad manners, I pulled out the sat phone and called up the captain.

_Well, former captain._

"Hello?" The captain's voice had not change, but it had lost it's edge of command.

"Madam Captain! This is Sosuke!"

"Oh, Sosuke! How have you been?"

"Ineed your help! Kaname is missing!"

The train was mostly empty, but a few still gave me dirty looks.

"Okay, tell me what happened."

I reported the events of the night as throughly as I could recall.

"Well, I guess that's a little odd, but don't you think she is okay? Maybe she went out with friends or something."

"I have no way of making sure she is safe unless I find her."

Even I heard the desperation in my voice. But still, it was best to assume the worst in battle.

"Can you trace a cell phone, Captain?"

"Well, I can't, but I may know someone who can. It will take a while though. Estimate 20 minutes."

"Very well, please contact me as soon as you know!"

I rattle off Kaname's phone number. "Uruz 7 out!"

"Tesstarossa out. Good luck." Her voice had slipped back into her familiar "command" tone. It was reassuring.

Twenty minutes, it will take 15 more to reach my station. I pull out the paper and half read it, the other half scanning the passengers. No one really stuck out. There was an old woman with a bag. The bag seemed too small to be a bomb. A young teen with an iPod. His eyes said he was not a threat. Another man, clothing suggesting a cook. He looked tired, his eyes closed. Either he was as he appeared, or it's a disguise. Noting the pattern of stains, it appeared he was just a cook.

This was my stop. I got up and tried not to run. S_low and calm, blend in as much as possible._ Twenty meters seemed to take forever, but at long last I was free and in the shadows. This part of town has more night life. I avoided the main streets and took the back roads. When I reached Histar International, the phone rang.

"Uruz 7 here."

"Okay, Uruz 7, I got a trace. Here are her coordinates." I didn't have anything to write with, so I rolled up my sleeve, pulled out a knife and etched the numbers into my skin. I wiped away the blood as I confirm the number back to Tessa.

"Look Sosuke, I'm sure its nothing, but you owe me, alright?"

"Yes, Captain, anything, just call. Thank you, Uzur 7 out."

"Tessa out."

Pulling out the map, I cross-referenced the numbers to the map. It's a building not far from here. Map went into the pocket, Glock came out. I checked the safety as well as the bullets as in it. Rubber bullets loaded. Good. The Glock went back into its holster, and the back pack came off. I pulled out the grenade launcher, and loaded a tear gas round.

A short run later, the building was just around the corner. Three stories, windows on all sides. Lights on the second floor only. Front door open. A business. I ran to the back and pulled out the repelling gear. I managed to snag the hook on the third floor on the third try. It's always best to maintain the high ground. Scaling the building was not a problem, and I flipped over onto the roof, pistol in hand. No contact. Crept to the door. Locked. Again, not a problem.

_Thump._

A small C4 charger later, the door opened. Darkness. The night vision goggles, I forgot to put them on! _Too late now._

Five minutes later, the third floor was secure. No one on this floor. On the second floor, I pulled out the infrared scanner. With it I could see people's heat signature from behind doors and walls.

_And floors._

Going back through the third floor, I scanned the ground, eyes on the blue and red displays. There were three rooms occupied but one only had males, so I dismissed that one. Two had males and females. Each room was on opposite sides of the building. I picked one, traced back the hallway, set more C4, then ducked for cover.

_BOOM!_

Where once sat a floor, now had a nice size hole in it. Extraction would not be a problem.

"Who's there?" a male voice said. Two rubber bullets later, he was silent. First room. More C4, stun grenade ready, gas mask on, tear gas round loaded in the launcher.

_Thump._ Door hinges destroyed, in went the stun grenade.

_BANG! _ I fired off the tear gas round next.

_Whump!_

Pistol in hand, I rushed in the room searching for her. Smoke made it hard to see, but I spotted two women, one blond, one flat chested. Not Kaname. They all got a rubber bullet induced sleep.

Next room. Same setup. C4 on the door. Just as I was about to detonate, I her Kaname's voice. She was screaming. It sounded painful.

_Kaname!_

Thump. No more door. Stun grenade next.

_BANG!_ Tear gas round.

_Whump! _

There were bodies coughing everywhere, but even through the haze I easily located Kaname. I went to her and managed to get the second gas mask on her, despite her mass of blue hair. I carried her out of the room, tossing in my last stun grenade for good measure.

"Sosuke?" she said. Even through the muffled mask, I could hear she was slurring her words.

_Poison! Shes been poisoned!_

"Hang on, we will be safe soon, Kaname."

"Safe? But I was having funnn ..."

_T__his is very bad._

Not only had she been poisoned, but she was delusional as well. Perhaps even brainwashed. But this was not the time for that. I had a field detox kit back at my place. Extraction comes first, getting back through the hole up to the second floor, I put one arm around her, as I managed to haul us up to the third floor. Kaname seemed to be having a lot of trouble walking.

"Heeey, what's going on, Sosuke? Why are you here? Hmmmm."

Scooping her up in my arms - princess style, she would say - we ran to the roof. I put her down as I set up the repelling gear. Done. Next up a distraction. High explosive rounds in the grenade launcher, I fired off two at a truck just down the street in front of the building. The noise was impressive, even to me. As expected, the flames and noise drew out everyone up and down the street. Away from the rear, where I set up and with Kaname climbed down to the floor. By this time she had passed out. Pulse was normal, respiration seemed normal. I pulled off the mask and started running. I glanced at my watch.

_12:36_

By now the trains had stopped running. This was going be a long walk home. But Kaname seemed stable, no sign of any immediate danger.

It was almost dawn by the time I realized Kaname had alcohol on her breath. She had been sleeping the entire time, her weight causing my body to tire. But I'm acutely aware that my body is reacting to her very feminine curves. We are almost home when I spot the park bench we had sat on once before. Scanning left and right, I lay her down, her head on my lap.

"Sosuke..." Her voice was still sleepy.

"Yes, Kaname?"

"What happened to karaoke? How did I get here?"

"K-K-karaoke?"

_O__h crap. This is not good_.

"Yeah, we were having fun, and I was singing..." Eyes closed, a smile crossed her face.

"You were singing? You were not being tortured?"

_Did I misread the situation again?_

"Huh? no. I was having fun.," she murmured as she went back to sleep.

In the distance, the crickets started singing.

"She is going to kill me."


	7. Chapter 6: Aftermath

Kaname woke with a pounding headache. Even the sunlight seemed more painful than usual. She tried standing once, fell back on her bed, tried again, this time falling on the floor.

"Urrrrrrrr..." It seem even words were a problem today. After realizing the carpet did not taste very good, she managed to get on her knees.

"Uh, so far so good..." Next up one foot, then the other. She finally stood there, swaying a bit from side to side, until she felt confident enough to walk out of her bedroom.

"Sosuke..." It took her a while to remember he should still be sleeping. She turned in the general direction of the couch, but there was no Sosuke. There were, however roses in a vase and chocolate on the table as well as eggs and bacon with toast. _When did he have time to ... and where is he?_

Moving to the table, she found a small card.

_I had to run errands today. Will be home late._

_And I am sorry, Kaname._

What was he sorry for? She had yelled at him. But this was classic Sosuke. He never blamed anyone but himself.

"Oh Sosuke, you bought me flowers ... how romantic!" she squealed to the table.

Pain in her head lessening, her heart slightly aflutter, she got ready for work, ate the breakfast and scooped some chocolate for snack later in her purse. She didn't notice she was humming happily as she left for work.

The train ride was uneventful, and it seemed to pass faster than usual. Even the sun seem cheerful. She got off at her stop, passed the shops near her work, went through security, and sat down at her desk.

Her coworkers seem unusually interested in how she was doing.

"Are you okay?" "Did you get home last night fine?" "How was everything?"

Her first thought was that this had something to do with Sosuke. But she shook her head. "_No way! Not Sosuke!"_ Then she thought about it, and her smile faltered. Truth be told, she did not remember much of last night. There was karaoke, then drinks, then … It was hazy after that. A fragment of something, a dream perhaps, of her and Sosuke at a park, of her laying on his lap and hhim saying something ...

Ruyji Takani gave her the puzzle piece she needed to put the final nail in the coffin of her wonderful day.

"Hey, are you okay?" he said, voice full of concern.

"W-what do you mean?" she replied with a nervous laugh.

"You don't remember? I guess you were pretty wasted. But still, to not remember an attack like that."

"An attack like what?" Her voice was suddenly dark. She remembered the card. _I am sorry, Kaname._ Not really sure she wanted to know, but Ruyji was probably going to tell her anyways.

"Last night at karaoke we got attacked! Some crazy dude in black and wearing a mask blew up the door and then threw a grenade, twice! And if that wasn't bad enough, he gassed us! Tear gas! I was crying and coughing until morning!"

"Oh really?" Kaname's angry tone was lost on Ryuji as he kept going.

"Yeah, it was a mess, and then when everything cleared, you weren't there. We were worried you had been abducted or something. Thank God you're okay."

"Oh, I'm fine, I just walked home." Kaname tried to brush it off with another unconvincing laugh. Ruyji's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Oh really?" he said.

"Yes, you know, nice walk to clear your head and all that! Ha ha!"

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. You know, I don't even hear any roughness to you voice." he told her.

Now that she thought about it, Ruyji and a few others sounded hoarse. But not her. Her thoughts were broken as Ryuji walked away. She went back to her computer.

_That idiot!_

it all made sense now. The roses, the chocolates, the note. He wasn't running errands, he was just plain running.

_Coward! Idiot!_

She spent the rest of the morning typing while muttering "idiot" and thinking of ways to kill Sosuke. The nerve of the guy. _I'm a little bit late, and he goes and blows up an entire building! _She was sure it was him. Come to think of it, she had not a scratch on her. This was definitely his doing.

Lunch came and she went to the vending machine to get something to eat. It was in a back part of the office, a bit isolated. As she had just finished getting her lunch, Ruyji Tanaki showed up. It was just the two of them.

"You know," he told her, "everyone was still in the room when the smoke cleared, but not you."

He went on. "And a few people saw the attacker carrying a woman with long hair. In fact, one person said he was carrying her very carefully. And guess what? Here you are today, not a scratch on you."

"Well, I really don't remember anything from last night."

"Really?" he answered skeptically.

"Really. If you will excuse me, I have to back to work now."

She slipped by him and went back to her desk. What she didn't see was Ryuji Takani flipping open his cell and making a call.

"Yeah, give me any information we got on Kaname Chidori." he told the voice on the phone.

Sosuke was not running errands. He was just running. He had been neglecting his workout routine due to his work schedule, but the truth of the matter was he was worried. He knew he screwed up, and badly. Thankfully life in Tokyo was much more forgiving of mistakes than the battles he had called home for so long.

His job was another matter. He had not shown up for work last night. He still hadn't slept at all, but it was too late. His supervisors, Bob and Bill, had left instructions to only bother them at work. He really did not know if he still had a job or not.

And then there was Kaname. This was all still new to him. Sweet, pretty and sometimes frightening Kaname. Right now he could admit to himself he was frightened.

_If this were a normal battle, I would call in a tactical strike from air support. And artillery. _

But he could not do that to her. Darkness was falling, and he had to face her wrath at some point. He headed back to their apartment on alert.

Treading up the stairs, he opened the door, expecting something to come flying at him. Instead, there sat Kaname at the table, calm and drinking tea. There was a cup for him as well.

"Oh, hello, Sosuke. How was your day?" She seem as calm as he had ever seen her.

"F-F-F-ine. How as your day?"

"Sit down down. Have some tea," she told him. He did as instructed.

"Is it poisoned?" he asked her.

"Now, why would I do that, Sosuke?"

"No reason," he replied.

This was a negotiation, and he very much felt like the hostage. He could feel himself sweating, and not from the run.

"Say, Sosuke, you seem pretty nervous. Did anything … happen?"

Sosuke considered his next words very carefully. Best to tell the truth. He stood up at rigid attention, eyes on the far wall.

"Yes ma'am! At precisely 8:57 last night, one Kaname Chidorhad had not returned home. Suspecting an attack, I infiltrated her room and searched for information. After a thorough search turned up no useful information, I decided to read her diary. Upon learning she worked at the same company as I did, I then proceeded to prepare for an assault and extraction. Gear was standard for said mission."

He dared not look at her. He continued.

"After a final check to verify Miss Chidori had not returned home, I proceeded with the mission at 10:31. Not having any way to locate the target, I called in for support."

"From who?" she asked, tone as icy as he had ever heard it.

"Former Captain Tesstarossa, ma'am!"

"Continue please."

"Yes ma'am! Miss Tesstarossa was able to provide a location from a phone search. Estimated time was 20 minutes. After an estimated 15 minutes, I arrived and exited the train without event. Once I had received the location of Miss Chidori's phone, I proceeded to the target building." He glanced at her and regretted it. Still, he continued.

"After gaining entry to the top floor, I determined that there were two possible hostage locations. The first, however, was wrong. After gaining entry-"

She cut him off. "And how, sergeant, did you gain entry?"

"Ma'am, using explosives, combined with a stun grenade followed buy tear gas. After neutralizing the targets with nonlethal rounds, I proceeded to the next location. After hearing a scream that I thought was the result of touture-"

"I WAS NOT SCREAMING IN PAIN, MY SINGING ISN'T THAT BAD!"

"Yes ma'am! However, that information was not available at that time, ma'am! I therefore procceded with the extraction. After a successful extraction to the roof, I used a nearby truck as cover to our escape. After I realized the trains had stopped, I proceeded on foot back to base."

"And let me guess, you stopped at the park." she sighed.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Why?"

"I'd rather not say, ma'am!"

"Huh? 'Rather not say'?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Sosuke felt like he was five years old again, trembling before his drill instructors. He almost peed his pants.

"STOP HIDING AND TELL ME THE TRUTH, YOU IDIOT!"

"Yes, ma'am! I was … painfully aware of your … female form!" He dared not look at her now. Or maybe ever. She was silent for a long time. At last she spoke.

"So let me get this straight, Sosuke. I am a little bit late coming home, because I decided to sing with my coworkers, and you decided to blow up a building? What were you thinking? What normal person would do that?"

"I was scared of losing you again," he said in a voice so small she almost didn't hear it.

"What?" she asked, a bit of shock in her voice.

"It would not be the first time you had been taken by force!" He stood at rigid attention, eyes fixed on the far wall. He heard the chair move as she stepped closer to him. He shut his eyes and waited for whatever she would hit him with. He would not dodge or complain, not to her.

Instead, she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, body pressed to his.

"Oh Sosuke, what are we going to do with you?" she whispered gently in his ear.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Well, of course I am, I mean, you did blow up a building and shoot my coworkers with tear gas and a stun grenade."

"Two."

"Huh?"

"I used two grenades. It was unprofessional of me."

She just laughed. "Sosuke, only you would say that at a time like this." As she continued laughing, he started to relax. She continued. "But I guess its not totally your fault. I did want want to make you worry, I guess. "

"Why, Kaname?"

"It's that time of the month, I was feeling crappy and just wanted to vent a bit, I guess. You make an convenient target you know."

"I always try to minimize my target profile," he said seriously. She just laughed some more.

"We got to work out something so this does not happen again."

"Affirmative."

"Kaname? Can you let me go?"

"Why?"

"It's, well, um, I can feel them."

"Feel what?"

"Your, your, your-"

"And what if I said no, Sosuke?"

He paused and considered his next words. "It's not a problem, then." She gave him a kiss on the cheek from behind as she released him. It sent shivers through his body.

"Good night, Sosuke. I'm tired. But thanks for rescuing me from the evil Karaoke Room of Torture."

She paused by her bedroom door, "Please try not to blow up my workmates again, okay? You know you can always call and ask me."

"I seemed to have forgotten you had a phone."

"Idiot," she said gently as she went to shut the door, but paused, leaving just a crack of an opening. She looked down as she said, voice just above a mumble, "Hey, I'm sorry, too. I like you the way your are."

Then the door shut and Sosuke was left alone with his thoughts. Mostly the memory of her body pressed to his. He looked at the time and started to get ready to leave for work. Assuming he still had a job. Not really sure of what to say other than the truth, he got ready for his second confrontation of the day, and this one he was sure would be less intimidating and involved fewer pleasant female body parts.


	8. Chapter 7: Route

fired.

Sousuke had been fired. As he walked home in the dark, that thought kept running through his mind.

_Mission failed. _

_Total route._

_Strategic loss._

_...fired._

_Damn._

Entering his apartment, he sat down at the table for a long time. He needed another job. He also needed to tell Kaname. Not something he was looking forward to. Telling her he had failed...

shaking off the thought, he went to her door, and leaned against it, hand pressed flat. It was soothing, somehow. The door opened and he almost fell.

"Kaname, why are you awake?" he asked her, as she stood there, no trace of sleepiness.

"how did it go?" she asked him, voice concerned.

"I..." he tried again " I was..." he just could not get the words out.

"Its okay." she told him, taking him in an embrace. "It's my fault after all, Sosuke, I'm sorry."

"Its not your fault. Sometimes things go wrong for no reason at all on the battlefield." he told her.

"Is that what you told the guys who screwed up so bad you had to lie to them?"

"Its not a problem." he told her.

"I love when you say tell me that." she said, then sniffed. He looked at her, even in the darkness he could see the tears in her eyes. He wiped them away. "Its not a problem." he told her again.

They broke their embrace, and Sosuke went back to the couch, she to her room. He was almost asleep when her door opened again. He started to ask here what as wrong, but she cut him off with a gesture. She walked over to the couch and settled in next to him, her head on his chest. She still smelled of that sweet shampoo she loved. He wanted to say something, but held back, not wanting to break the spell. She just lay there, shifting every once in a while, molding her body into a more comfortable position. Sosuke just lay there, unsure of what he should do. Her weight was somehow comforting, like some essential bit of gear that his life depended on.

_What if she was gone?_

It was a terrifying though. On that made him wrap his arms around her and hold her tight without thinking. She let out a happy sigh. No matter what was to come, no matter how bad, as long as she was by his side, some how things would be okay.


	9. Chapter 8: Morning and a Shower

Sosuke woke up before she did. Kaname was still there, laying on him. Unfortunately, something else was awake as well. Freezing in place, he willed the offending member to go back to sleep before she woke up and realized. He looked around the room, sunlight was just starting to stream in the windows. Kaname looked so beautiful laying there, her breath hot on his neck. Sosuke admired the curves o her face, the gentle arc of her neck, and the very womanly curves of her body.

Glancing at the clock, it would soon be time for her to wake and get ready for work. Unsure, he lifted his hand and started combing her hair out of her face. She wore her hair long, and he never realized how much maintenance it required. After several minutes, the worst of the tangle were gone. He glanced back at the clock, time for her to get up. He was about to say something when she broke the silence first.

"Why did you stop...?" she murmered.

"It is time to get up." he said.

"is it? Really?" she said a little clearer as she pushed off his chest and ended up sitting on his lap. She sat there, eyes closed before standing up and heading to the bathroom. Sosuke got on his feet as well, then headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Today, he decided, he would try his hand at oatmeal.

After a disturbingly long time he managed to find the oatmeal, as well as some fruit to add and was mixing it all together on the stove in -he hoped- the proper portions. He was eying the pot, attempting to judge the right moment to turn off the heat, while stirring the oatmeal with a spoon when Kaname cracked open the bathroom door.

"Sosuke? Can you bring me some clothes?i kinda forgot. He he." she tacked on a small laugh that sounded to Sosuke some what...forced.

"Yes. Of course." he said, as he tried to locate the spoon he had dropped in the oatmeal.

_how could I be so stupid! _Kaname raged at her self as she stood there clutching a towel. So she had asked Sosuke to bring her some clothes. She burned with embarrassment as she thought of him rummaging through her underwear drawer.

_clothes, right._ Sosuke thought to himself as we walked in to her room. Locating her dresser, he opened up the top drawer and surveyed the possibilities. It seems tops were in this drawer. Knowing full well he lacked, in her words, common sense, he fell back on his training not feeling like he had any other option. If this were a combat mission, he would have chosen Grey, or perhaps black. Camouflage for urban environment was an ever changing mission, and in the end he decided on a charcoal Grey blouse. Taking it out and folding it neatly on the bed, he closed the drawer and opened the next one.

Skirts. Having already picked out a top, he focused on matching his colors. There was a longer Gery skirt as well as a shorter skirt. The longer skirt's color was a better match, camouflage wise, however the shorter skirt was still an acceptable color, as well as had modest slits on either side, permitting greater freedom of movement. He chose the latter.

Shoes. Next he went to the closet, and looked over his choices. Sosuke had but one pair of shoes. Combat boots. Comfortable to wear, easy on the feet when carrying gear, non skid, oil resistant sole with a generic tread pattern to them to avoid detection by enemy forces. However, Kaname would have no need of such foot wear. So naturally, he chose the closest match color wise and went with a pair of comfortable looking flats with acceptable tread pattern for best traction.

Jacket. He had several choices, but went with a longer coat that would provide the best warmth of the jackets in his color range. Nodding to himself, he gathered her clothes and headed to the bathroom.

after what seem like forever, but was really just a few minutes, Kaname heard a knock at the bathroom door. She cracked it open as Sosuke held out her cloths, his head firmly fixed in the other direction. Clutching her towel with one hand, she grabbed her clothe with the other.

As she closed the door and had a good look, he had done a not bad job. Not what she could have chosen, but close enough to be workable. Shades of Grey that actually did match. She sighed.

"i just wanted whatever so I could come out, but I guess this is okay." she smiled in the mirror as she got dressed. Then it hit her. There were no panties.

"that idiot!"

as Kaname got out of the bathroom dressed and ready to go, he had just finished setting the table. She sat down as he served the oatmeal.

"I hope you enjoy this. I decided to try making oatmeal." he said to her as she sat down.

"it looks very good, Sosuke" she muttered as she started eating.

He served himself and sat down to eat. Grabbing his spoon, he started eating. His mind wondered as he ate. It seem Kaname was not upset with his choice of clothes. They did fit her well, he thought. He looked outside. He had to find another job. This would not be an easy task, as he had very little skills outside of combat. He pondered as he ate.

Kaname pondered as she ate, as well. _Hurry up and leave so I can go get some panties!_ She thought to her self as she watched him eat out of the corner of her eye. He was taking his sweet time, his expression some were far away. She watched him. Spoon up, stare out the window, spoon down. Stare at his food. Sip of water, stare at the glass, then, surprise, spoon up and stare out the window. She was acute aware of the unusual draft downstairs.

She glanced at the clock, if he left in the next few minutes she could still make it on time. She glared at him out of the corner of her eye, willing him to get up and leave. But all he did was get up to get more food.

Spoon up, stare out the window.

Spoon down, stare at food.

Sip of water, stare at glass.

Spoon up...

Kaname glanced up at the clock, It was now or never. She opened her mouth at the same time he spoke.

"if you do not hurry, you might be late." _no joke, dumb ass._ She thought darkly at him, but pasted a smile on her face.

"you right! I better be going, ha ha!" she said as she got up, trying to ignore the funny sensations her body was throwing at her. She ended up marching out the door before kicking it shut.

As Kaname got up to leave, she seem, preoccupied with something. _Was my clothing choices that bad?_ He thought to himself. As he was still thinking, she kicked the door shut. He was impressed with her kick.

Dismissing his wondering of Kaname, he went to his computer and focused on the task at hand. A job.


	10. Chapter 9 - Panties and Officers

Authors note:

sorry for the long update. my primary writing machine died, so had to find an new one. ended up with a type writer that felt right. (lol). i ended up pounding out three chapters for this story, but the scanning to OCR to editing will take a while to get to. there will be some lemons later on, so i might change the rating. (maybe im overreacting. i might be getting old.) any ways, for all the review and comment,s its you guys who have kept this story alive! i feel guilty when i dont post! on to the show!

/authors note

After a search online, Sosuke assumed his best shot at getting another job was to look for something in security. An hour after Kaname left he did so as well, A list of possible employers in hand. After he had made his wall to the train, he looked over the possibility ties. two of them were with small companies that mostly worked the building security and three more listed personal security as their primary function. one listed high end bodyguards for the elite of society. Sosuke weighed the possibility and decided to leave the two in building security for last. He choose the others based on the possible pay and the fact that guarding people was less likely to be as dangerous as guarding buildings.

Several hours later Sosuke had finished with his job hunting but had secured only one interview. Seeing no other option he took the train down town where there were several high rise construction projects. Having exhausted all other options, for now anyways, he ended up taking a job hauling concrete. It was not glamorous, or even all that demanding physically and it help to keep his body in shape, He ended up forgoing lunch and deciding to save the money. before long the sun was setting and the work day was over. he headed to the train station and was soon on his way home. He worried about his finances. For so long it was he that provided and protected her, now it seemed the other way around. Kaname was the one bringing home the majority of the money. He did his best to help out, but a lifetime on the battlefield had left him with few usable skills in this strange yet peaceful new world. After living on the edge with death as a constant companion he had a hard time adjusting to not looking over his shoulder and not checking his guns, not looking for ambushes.

His mind was heavy with these thoughts as he stepped inside their small apartment. Kaname was sitting there at the table and fidgeting with her phone nervously.

"Whats wrong?" he asked her.

"Sosuke, we need to..." she paused, as if uncertain of her next words before continuing. "talk. We need to talk." she finished heavily.

"yes, of course." he said sitting down opposite of her on the table.

"Sosuke, you know i am a girl, right?" she asked him.

"yes."

"And girls are different from men, right?" she said.

"yes." he said. she paused and fidgeted with her phone some more before talking again.

"I was very happy you picked out my clothes for me."

"Thank you." he said, confused to the change in subjects.

"Sosuke," she said, her face clouding with anger, "YOU FORGOT MY UNDERWEAR AND BRA." she yelled while blushing furiously.

"then why did you not ask for them?" he asked her calmly.

"A girl just can't ask a guy that!" She protested still blushing.

"I understand." he said.

"really Sosuke?" she asked him, her voice soft and surprised.

"yes. While serving in MITHRIL, there were certain things officers and enlisted never said to each other. i assume this is that same situation." he said.

"well, close enough." she said relived, "by the way, how did the job hunting go?" she asked him.

"okay. i got one interview."

"Really? where at?" she asked him excitedly.

"With a security company for the elite of the business world."

"You mean you'll be in danger again?" she asked, " I know you can handle it, but i don't want to lose you again either. When i was kidnapped and heard about you missing, Sosuke i thought..." as she trailed off he reached over and grabbed her hands.

"I have done this for a long time. and working as a bodyguard to some old business man is much less dangerous than what I used to do."

"promise?" she asked him.

"promise."

one week later.

Sosuke's new job was pretty uneventful. He spent the first week being evaluated in various fields of combat and protection. While he had mostly failed those involvinget hics or manners his overwhelmingly perfect scores in all other areas had left him near the top in the entire company. Today he was to receive his first assignment.

"Sosuke Sagara reporting as ordered." he said with a salute as he entered his bosses office.

"at ease. your not in the military any more."

"as you wish." Sosuke said. easing his shoulders a bit.

"For your first assignment you will be guarding the daughter of a corporate CEO. This should be an easy assignment danger wise, but may be taxing for you otherwise." his boss said.

"how so?" Sosuke asked.

"to be honest, shes a little bitch. We've gone through six agents this year alone. we have a long history with their family so her mother Mrs Davenport is dead set on us. for what its worth her mother agrees with our assessment of her daughter."

"Its not a problem."

Kaname Chidori was back at her desk typing away. 'man, this job sucks' she thought to herself. but Sosuke had it worse. Today was the day he got his first assignment, If she could be honest with her self she would be scared. It didn't matter how much he knew, she too had once thought she would never see him again. She focused on her computer and kept typing away. She worked long hours and her social life was almost nonexistent. The company expected only the best and everyone on her floor worked extra hard to move up in the company, as did Kaname.

She spotted Tanaka strolling over to her desk. Ever since Sosuke blew up the karaoke bar he had been hanging around her a lot. There was something about the man, she just did not like. She had known his type in school, the quiet slippery type who did nothing but plot and plot but never could be pinned down to anything. Having him as one of her bosses just screamed watch out to her mind. And today was no different.

"so how is it going today?" he asked her as he leaned on the edge of her desk.

"busy."

"you really should take a break once in a while, you'll look old before your time if you don't."

"It's not a problem." she said as she kept typing away.

"So does that mean you have a man in your life?"

"yes." she answered him not bothering to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"Ah, high school sweet hearts. does that mean i don't have a chance?"

"not a chance in hell." she said with a dark laugh. he could never ever compare to Sosuke, but then again no one could really.

"So whats his name!" Ryuji Tanaka asked her with fake excitement in his voice.

"Sosuke Sagara."

"And-what does he do for a living"," he asked a little too quickly.

"He works in security, he guards only the best."

"I see." he said before walking off.

"damn snake." Kaname muttered as she pounded the keyboard a little too hard.

Ryuji Tanaka sat in his office going over the files on Kanme Chidori. There was something missing, something out of place with her. top marks in school, extranged father, mother died when she was young. living with her boyfriend who worked in security. Not many friends. It wasn't alot, but there was something here, he knew it. something told him she was dangerous to the company.

He went over the data again. attended high school at Jindai high between the years... He looked again. she had said she attended all three yea rs of high school, but school records put her graduation one year behind the rest of her class mates. if he had never called the school he would have never noticed it. She lied on her application. she put down high marks in school but had been held back a grade. Tanaka called up the one person who could do something about this and was also the one person he hated and feared the most, his sister and CEO of the company.


	11. Chapter 10: New Girl, Old Girl

_AN: now with lemons!_

Sosuke Sagara arrived early for his first day on the job, wearing his usual assortment of gear under his black suit. He stood there by the limo that was waiting to take his 'target,' Juliet Davenport, to her private school. Julie was 16 years old and was sent to one of the most expensive schools in Japan. As he waited, her mother came walking towards him.

"Mr. Sagara, right?" she asked, more of a statement than a question. "Don't be surprised if she tries to ditch you. Her favorite trick is sneaking out the bathroom window with her friends." She paused, then said, "Or she might try to make you quit."

"I am prepared to do my job, ma'am," Sosuke replied.

"Well, I hired you to keep her safe. As long as you do that, I don't care how you deal with her, understand?" she said as she flipped out her cell phone.

"Understood. Ensure her safety at all cost," Sosuke said formally.

"I like the way you think," she said to him, before her tone turned angry. "And don't even think about trying to hook up with my daughter. I -"

"I am in a committed relationship," he said, before adding, "If I did, she might kill me, at best."

"Introduce me some time. She sounds like my kind of girl."

"Understood," he said as Julie came out to meet her new bodyguard.

"So is this him?" Julie asked, her tone clearly not happy.

"It is very nice to meet you, Miss Davenport," Sosuke said to the younger of the two.

"It's just Julie," she said, sneering at him before turning to her mother. "Mom, I can take care of myself."

"Whatever. We've had this discussion before. Mr. Sagara is staying, and that is final. Get going or you'll be late for school," her mother said tersely.

"Fine," Julie whined again before entering the limo, Sosuke right behind her.

"So here is the thing," Julie said as the limo got moving. "My mother is just paranoid, got it?" she said looking Sosuke in the eye for the first time. "Let's work out a deal, okay?"

"What kind of deal?" he asked, suspiciously.

"1 pay you to get lost, the school has great -"

"Denied."

"10,000 a day!"

"Denied."

"20,000 a day!"

"Denied."

"50,000 a day!" Julie yelled at him.

"Denied."

"Oh come on, your throwing away a fortune," she said.

"No amount of money is worth a life," he said staring her in the eye. "There are somethings you cannot buy with money."

"Like what?" she asked sarcastically.

"Life, love. Having someone you care about say they will wait even hundreds of years for you."

Something in his tone touched her heart in a way she did not understand. He sounded so... sincere, in love.

"Whatever," she said dismissively.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Eventually they arrived at the school. More of a palace, Sosuke thought. He evaluated the security of the school grounds. All in all, it wasn't bad. Guards at the gates, 12-foot walls, security cameras everywhere. The glass of the buildings looked bullet resistant, at the least.

As Julie got out of the car and strutted up to the school entrance, Sosuke was a step behind and scanning the crowds of obviously rich kids. Most had the harmless look of children raised in luxury and who never had had to work. Spotting a serious threat should be a easy. Remembering the countless lessons pounded into him by Kaname kept him from tackling the girls running towards Julie. He did have his hand on his Glock, fingering the safety though. His fears proved unfounded.

"Hey Julie, so who is your new friend?" one girl asked.

"The latest stiff my mother hired. Would you believe he turned down 50,000 a day to leave me alone?"

"What a jerk, he probably doesn't even know how much that is," a second girl said.

"And how gross is that suit, its like something you see in a bad movie. It's so cheap it's just rude."

"And what about that scar on his face? No, just no."

"I don't know, it's kinda hot." another said.

"Whatever," they all said in unison as they turned as one and headed inside. Sosuke followed Julie as she made her way to her class and Sosuke was relieved to see he was not the only bodyguard assigned to the students. He counted four others in the room, as well as a few maids, one of who had cold, hard gray eyes despite her smile that made him wonder if she was more bodyguard than maid. The other bodyguards seemed uninterested, even bored. Sosuke found their unprofessionalism disturbing.

As the class started and the day wore on, Sosuke fell back into familiar patterns. This was very much like guarding Kaname, but this time he was just guarding, not trying to fit into high school life. Soon, Julie raised her hand,

"Teacher, I have to go to the bathroom," she said.

"Oh, me too," one of Julie's cohorts said, with the other two nodding in agreement.

"Fine, fine," the teacher said waving them out. The four girls got up and headed out of the room. Sosuke followed Julie as the four of them wound down the halls to a girl's bathroom on the first floor.

"You can't come inside, you know," Julie said to him.

"I'll be near by," he told Julie.

After the girls went in, Sosuke listened to them as they opened the back windows and snuck outside. He raced outside and around the building just as he spotted the quartet of girls leaving out the back gate. He settled on tailing them, as his assignment was to protect, not to keep her in school.

It had been a while since he had to tail anyone, but thankfully these girls could have been tailed by the greenest of recruits and they would never known it. He had no trouble keeping them in sight for the hours they wandered around the high-end shopping district.

As the day wore on and sunlight turned to night time, they all headed back to the train station. Julie boarded a different train and headed to the mansion where she lived. Sosuke took a seat a few rows back and watched her in the reflection of his window. He continued to tail her until she hailed a cab. Fighting panic, he stood in the road until a car stopped in front of him. Pulling out his gun he walked up to the driver side window.

"Please give me a ride," he told the driver, who did as instructed, the gun deeply influencing his cooperation.

"Is this a carjacking?" the driver asked nervously,

"No," Sosuke replied, "I simply need you to follow that cab in front of us."

"Okay man," he said, still nervous.

They had driven a few blocks when Sosuke instructed him to pull to the side of the road.

''Please don't kill me," the driver cried.

"Thank you for the ride," Sosuke said as he got out, tossing the driver a business card of his employer. "Please see them for reimbursement."

"You're not going to kill me?" the driver asked, but Sosuke was already running down the street where Julie had gotten out of the cab. He rounded the gate just as Julie tried to sneak inside.

"JULIET WINSOR DAVENPORT, GET UP TO YOUR ROOM! " her mother screamed at her.

"THAT GUY YOU HIRED IS A LOSER! IT'S NOT MY FAULT," Julie screamed back at her mother.

"THAT'S NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE!"her mother yelled back as Julie huffed and sighed as she passed her and headed inside.

"You," Mrs. Davenport said, hate in her eyes.

"Sosuke Sagara reporting," he said.

"So what now, you tell me she didn't lose you?"

"No ma'am."

"You weren't in the cab," she a said darkly.

"I enlisted the help of the car directly behind her."

"Enlisted?" she asked curious. "How?"

"Glock 9mm."

"I see," she a said, a dark smile forming on her lips, "Well, you have impressed me. You get to keep your job." She turned around and slammed the door in Sosuke's face.

"Thank you," he said to the closed door.

It was well after dark when Sosuke got home. He opened the door and was as quiet as he had ever been on a black op, not wanting to wake Kaname if she was asleep. As he walked slowly in the darkness, his foot his hit something soft that mumbled, "Oof."

"Hey, you back," Kaname slurred from the floor.

"Why are you on the floor, Kaname?" he asked her.

"And why not?!" She yelled at him back, clearly drunk.

"You're drunk."

"Well, I had a crappy day and I wanted to celebrate your new job, but you were late so I got bored and started without you and, yeah, guess I got a little drunk," she said, adding a hiccup.

"A little? Time for bed," he told her, hoping she would cooperate.

"No," she protested, "I'm a big girl, don't wanna." She paused, straightening up and pointing to the living room, before yelling, "To the couch, Sosuke. Search and destroy!" He urged in a British accent. She took a step, but ended up falling on the floor and bursting into a fit of the giggles.

"Okay, to the couch it is," Sosuke told her, before lifting her in his arms.

"Yeah, I meant to do that, really," she said, as she traced his jaw with her fingers. "Nice scar, Sosuke, have any more?"

"Many."

"Show me," she said as he set her down on the couch.

"Very well," he said as he took off his shirt.

|"I see, I see," she said, her voice unsteady.

"Are you okay, Kaname? You're breathing hard."

"Nope, just fine. Damn, you're fine," she said as she admired his shirtless form. She had another giggle fit before patting the seat beside her. "Sit." As he sat down, she kicked him off the seat and on to the floor.

"What was that for?" he asked. She just giggled and hiccuped.

"What?" she said, jumping off the couch and straddling him on the floor. "Sosuke, I...I..." Her smiles turned to tears. He sat up and held her as she cried, her hot tears on his bare shoulder.

"It's okay, it's alright," he told her, the smell of her hair deep in his nose.

"No, it's not alright," she said as she sniffled. "It's not alright. It's not okay. I feel so deeply for you, and I can never say it. I can never tell you how I really feel. I just..."

"It's not a problem," he told her. She started crying again and held him tight, wrapping her legs around his back as she cried on his shoulder. He stroked her hair, not knowing what else to do to comfort her. As he held her, his body reacted to her very female form.

"So you are a guy after all," she said after a few minutes, feeling the hardness in his pants as she sat on his lap. He started to deny it, to say anything, but before he could, she cut him off with a smile.

"I was worried it got shot off somewhere," she said, still smiling. She leaned in and kissed him, not the docile kiss they shared at graduation day. This was all hunger.

"Stop for a minute, Sosuke," she said, leaning back and putting some distance between them.

"Kaname, I'm sorry. I just -"

She cut off his apology with a smile and pressed her finger to his lips. "The bra is in the way," she said to him as she took off her top and then her bra. As she sat there on him, topless, Sosuke started to doubt he should do this.

"Stop," he told her. "I can't take advantage of you when you are drunk."

"Idiot. I'm not sure I can do this unless I am drunk," she a said to him staring deeply into his eyes. "I want this, Sosuke. Please trust me. I know what I am doing."

"I can't take advantage of you like this."

"Idiot," she said, smiling, "You would never take advantage of me. And that's what I love about you. I'm always safe, no matter how exposed I am." She smiled again and shoved him to the ground, grinding her body against his and kissed him again. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts. His calloused hands softly gripped her erect nipples and a small moan escaped her lips as she came up for air.

"You don't know how many times I dreamed of this, Sosuke."

Sosuke wanted to say something, but she spoke before he could an answer.

"Well, he seems happy," she said, as her hand went down to his pants and fumbled with his belt. She leaned on him again as she guided him into her, her nose scrunched in concentration. Once inside, she rocked her hips to a rhythm only she knew, the two bodies moving to each other. Sosuke held back until her moans grew louder and louder and her body spasmed against his.

The two lovers stayed on the floor, enjoying the afterglow, both of them dozing in happiness and contentment. It was Kaname who spoke first.

"Hey Sosuke? Can you do something for me?" she asked softly, her breath warm on his ear.

''Anything." He would conquer the world if she asked him to.

"Get me some toilet paper?" she asked, with an uneasy smile.

''Toilet paper?"

"Yeah,I'm leaking," she said, embarrassed.

"Leaking what?"

''Idiot," she said., taking his hand and placing it between her legs.

"Get it now?" she said to him as he his hands came back wet and sticky.

"Toilet paper, not a problem."

"1 love you, Sosuke," she a said softly,

"I love you too," he said as he gently got up.


	12. Chapter 11: interview

Morning came again, by some cruel trick of fate. Kaname was laying there, between asleep and awake, with her body slightly aching. Not really wanting to get up just yet, she lay there and tried to slowly ponder this turn of events. She usually woke up tired, but seldom sore. And her bed was really hard. Did she fall asleep on the floor again? No, that's not right. The floor was cold and hard. This was warm and hard. And moving. Breathing?

"Kaname." a voice in her ear spoke gently. Suddenly she snapped awake, and remembered last night.

"Sosuke!" she yelled as she bolted upright off of him. She muttered a curse as the pounding in her head caused her to loose her balance end up on the floor. She cursed again as she realized dumbly she was still naked.

"Good morning." Sosuke said, resolutely staring at the wall, away from her all too exposed behind.

"Why am I naked? I mean, did we... uh, you see.. um. You and I?" she sputtered as she rummaged through her dresser to find something to put on. She ended up grabbing Sosuke's shirt from off the floor. It smelled like him. She blushed. Not helping.

"It would seem we had intercourse last night." he said calmly, still staring at the wall.

"I know that!" she yelled, then grumbled, "Idiot." she sat on the floor and turned away from him, thinking hard. It was what she had asked him for, but the morning after was hard facing him sober. What were they now, lovers?

"Was it a mistake, Kaname?" he asked her, his voice guilty.

"No!" she yelled again, then repeated in a small voice, "No, it wasn't."

"Then why are mad at me?" he asked her.

"I'm not mad, I just don't really know how to deal with this. I mean I wanted this, but i'm just not very good with all this emotional crap." she looked back at him. " I'm sorry."

"I'm glad we did it." he said after a while.

"Me too." she said before getting up and heading out the door. She sagged against the door and just sat there for a long time, thinking. She felt safe around him, and she could even admit she loved him. But for so long there relationship had not been physical. For along time she wondered if he was gay.

"Guess I know that answer now." she said with a smile as she got up off the floor. Glancing at the clock on the stove, she cursed again. They were both going to be late. Opening the door, she opened it to find Sosuke standing there nude.

"Sosuke!" she yelled as she blushed, "Were going to be late for work! Hurry and get in the shower." she said as she grabbed a towel.

"Together?" she heard him ask.

"Unless you want to go to work smelling like that. Idiot." she said as she turned on the shower.

"Understood." he said.

Kaname rushed into work late. It turns out showering together is not as romantic or as fast as she had thought. Sosuke was fond of cold showers, and taking turns rinsing off left the other standing wet and cold. She had tried to not look at him, but they ended up brushing against each other several time.

She blushed as she remembered is erection and she ended up 'helping' him fit into his pant. His endurance in matters of the bed were just as impressive as his endurance on the battlefield.

Sitting down at her desk, she muttered another curse and glanced at the monster of an 'in' pile. It had grown more than usual. She started up her computer and set about the task to cut down the monstrous pile to more manageable proportions. She tried to focus on her work and not the soreness she felt down there. Losing your virginity hurt more than she had thought.

Sosuke had to rush, but ended up getting there just in time. Julie Davenport was just walking out to her waiting limo. She glared daggers at him as she huffed past him and got inside the limo. They drove for several moment before she spoke.

"How are you not fired?" she asked him, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

"Why would I be fired?" Sosuke asked her.

"Because you lost me yesterday?" she asked with a 'dont be stupid' expression on her face.

"I didn't lose sight of you."

"So you were following me like some stalker all day?!" she screamed at him.

"Affirmative."

"So when we were trying on bras you were-"

"nearby, but out of direct sight." to be exact, he had been in the roof, but that didn't really matter right now. Julie glared at him for a while.

"I hate you." she muttered as she looked out her window.

"Understood."

elsewhere, some one else was getting to work. The man had spent the previous day visiting various shops and picking up packages that had been shipped to him. His job was simple, an assassination.

Generally a simple task, but this job had a specific time and place attached to it. 1 Pm today. Business district, executive office.

School.

Sosuke stood near the wall in the class room that Julie was currently attending. He scanned the room again, but didn't really find anything of note. The same people, same expressions. The teacher, he had his questions about. But nothing seem dangerous to him.

The day had been uneventful, as it seem Julie had given up on trying to ditch him. She seem annoyed at his presence, but accepted it. Over all, she was much more cooperative than Kaname had been. Here, Julie was one rich kid in a sea of rich kids, and the number of targets worked in his favor.

school, basement.

"are you sure this is going to work?" said a student holding a camera.

"Sure. Its fool proof. By the time the girls walk by, they will all be soaking. I'll set the fire alarm to trigger just after gym class." another student said as he madly typed away at a computer in the maintenance room. "its genius." he said. "All those girls in soaking wet shirts. See through at its best."

"If you say so..." the camera man said.

"Okay, were set. Lets go get into position."

Julies next class was gym class. He stood just out side the door as the girls changed. There were several female body guards, so he felt relatively safe being just outside. The gym was the largest room, and had the smallest windows. A sniper shot was not impossible, but highly unlikely. And the size of the room meant a bomb would have a less lethal compression wave.

The students had been filtering out and Sosuke was about to go and look for her, but she walked out before he could do anything.

"don't you get bored?" she asked him flippantly.

"No." Sosuke said, "boredom can be deadly on-"

"Fire!" a teacher yelled as the sprinkler came on and started drenching every thing. The gym was filled with chaos as every one rushed at once to leave. A kidnapping would be easy in all this mess. He grabbed Julie's wrist in an iron grip as he led her deeper inside the school.

"Let me go!" she screamed and tried to break free.

"we are leaving. Its dangerous here." he said to her as they navigated deeper into the school, away from the easier ambush spots.

"Its just a prank. Didn't you go to high school?" Julie asked him.

"I can't take that risk."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"No." he said as they broke free of the building and headed to the parking lot. Sosuke glanced around the lot, looking for a few teachers he knew too lunch in their cars. Spotting one, he dragged Julie towards a red Honda

"what the hell are we doing now?"

"securing transportation." he said, drawing his gun.

"huh?" she said as she watched Sosuke open the car and haul the teacher out.

"car keys." he demanded, pointing his gun at the woman as she handed over her keys.

"thank you." he said as he shoved Julie in the passenger seat.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" she screamed at him as they drove off, "YOU JUST CAR JACKED MY ENGLISH TEACHER? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"I am just borrowing it." Sosuke said reasonably.

"Oh, 'cus that makes it all alright." she said as she looked outside the car window.

"Take me to my mothers office. Its got tons of security. I can get some clothes there too." Julie said with a smirk.

"understood."

Kaname's work.

Kaname Chidori was pounding away at her desk as she did the half mindless work of entering the data on the computer. She was almost finished on one paper when Tanaka came up to her desk.

"Can I help you?" she said, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.

"you lied on you application." he said to her.

"What?" she said, as she stopped tying to face him. "I didn't lie."

"you graduated a year lat, but still put down 'high marks in school'".

"and?"

"you dont graduate with high marks if you were held back a year."

"There were things that happened." she said looking away. Her high school life sounded like fiction with all the things that happened.

"Like what?"

"Its a long story." she said desperately.

"then lets hear it with the boss." he gestured for her to lead. Kaname got up and headed down the hall. She glanced at a clock as she passed.

12:53

The assassin setup on the roof top. It was an easy shot, and the window glass was thin enough to make it unlikely it would deflect the bullet.

Now it was just a matter of waiting a few minutes.

Julie Davenport stomped in to her mothers giant office building soaking wet with a calm Sosuke Sagara in tow. He followed her past the receptionist as she entered the elevator and punched the top floor.

"your mother works here?" he asked her as the door slid closed.

"yes, and when we get there your fired."

Sosuke said nothing in response. What was done was done. Julie was safe, and that is what mattered. He stood there while she fumed.

The elevator dinged and Julie stomped out and headed for the large double doors.

"Your mother is in a meeting, you have to-"

Julie ignored her, as did Sosuke.

Kaname found her self at the very top of the building in a giant office that held the CEO of the company. "Davenport – CEO" announced the plack on her desk.

"So, miss Chidori, what this all about?" she said from behind her desk.

"Well, I didn't really get held back so much as I took a year break from school."

"Really? And your school was fine with that?" Davenport said as she leaned in.

"Well, yes." Kaname said, trying not to figit.

"And why is that?"

"you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kaname said bitterly.

"Try me."

Kaname sighed as she saw the look of victory on Tanaka's face. "Because I was kidnapped and experimented on for a year."

"Experimented on?"

"Yes, an attempt to gain technical knowledge from the future." she said through gritted teeth.

"Your sure you not of of those chuunibyou, you know, those delusion kids?"

Kaname opened her mouth to answer, but the office door flying opened cut off her reply.

"Mom! You wont believe what this idiot did today."

Kaname turned to see a girl storm in the office followed by?

"Sosuke?" Kaname said, turning to him.

"Kaname?" he said to her.

"What?" Mrs Davenport said.

"MOM!" said the girl.

"EVERY ONE DOWN!" Sosuke yelled as he tackled her boss as the window behind him shattered sending glass flying. Sosuke tossed her boss over the desk as he popped a smoke grenade and started shooting out the window.

"Kaname! Get them out of here!" he yelled.

"right!" she yelled back as she shoved her boss out the front door. Turning to Tanaka to see he was scrambling towards the door, she turned to the girl and tossed her towards the double doors. Kaname was right behind her.

"All clear!" she yelled to Sosuke before jumping though the doors herself.

The three of them sat there panting when Sosuke joined them. She rushed to him and embraced him.

"Are you okay?" she said to him. He nodded his reply.

"You two know each other?" Mrs Davenport asked Kaname.

"Yes, he is my boyfriend."

"You said you wanted her fired, Tanaka?"

"Yes." Tanaka said.

"Good. Kaname, your fired."

"What?!" she screamed.

"Good, now fire him." the girl said to her mother.

"Your going to love this Julie. Kaname, your hired. You will be working with Sosuke. Congratulations. Mrs Davenport said to a confused Kaname.

"Mom! You have to fire this loser first." Julie said to her mother.

"Shut up brat, your lucky to have Sosuke." Kaname said to Julie trying to hold in her anger.

"Whatever, he is just some worthless bum that my mother-" her words were cut off by Kaname's kick to the face that sent her flying.

"Never call my Sosuke worthless. He just saved your life, bitch." she said to a stunned and bloodied Julie who was picking her self up off the floor.

"Mom, she just hit me!"

"So like I said, you will be working with Sosuke." Mrs davenport said to Kaname before turning to her daughter. "didn't I tell you that mouth of your would get you into trouble?"

"I cant believe you." Julie said as she sulked.

"by the way, Mr Sagara, has miss Chidori ever been kidnapped?"

"yes." he said, "However I'm not a liberty to discuss the detail."

"And you just believe that crap, mom?!" Julie cried out.

"Well, Mr Sagara has proven to work well under pressure, and Kaname seems to work well beside him, even when her live was in danger. Is she is chuunibyou, I dont really see how that's a problem at this point."

"I am not delusion." Kaname said.

"Of course not." Mrs davenport said some what condescendingly.

"Julie, don't you have to be getting back to school?"

"Mom, I- oh never mind. You wont care anyways." Julie said as she stalked off with Sosuke close behind her.

"Well, if you will excuse me, I have to get to my new job." Kaname said before she turned and dashed for sosuke in the elevator.

The door closed and she considered apologizing to Julie. But then again, she really was out of line.

"I still can't believe you stole my teachers car." Julie muttered.

"Oh, so that is how you got here." Kaname commented out loud.

"Your all crazy! He stole a car and all you have to say is, 'gee whiz, so that is how you got here'?"

Kaname cocked her head to the side, and thought.

"Is the car still on one piece?" Kaname asked Sosuke.

"Arrgh! This not a joke! What is wrong with you people?" Julie raged at them.

"Has be blown up you shoe locker yet?" Kaname asked her.

"that's not even funny."

"I wasn't joking." Kaname said.

"Small amounts of Composition 4 are effective for disposal of a wide range of dangerous packages." Sosuke chimed in.

"maybe its best I'm around. Sosuke was my body guard in high school. I know he can get out of hand sometimes."

"But aren't you two the same age?" Julie asked.

"he grew up as a child soldier." Kaname said off hand.

"Oh god. Some one please tell me this is a joke." Julie said as they reached the ground floor.


	13. Chapter 12: Carjacked Dance

_AN: _ _to arch dragon761: I'm back! Thank you again for you support!_

_KaitoPhantom1412: Im glad Sosuke feels right. Hope I can continue._

_Guest: gracias for leer esto fiction._ _Dannya6 and iyaoys, thanks for reading._

_On to the show!_ _Sorry for any grammer mistakes. edit: not sure why the wall of txt, tried copy and paste, ODF and RTF formats, still got just a wall of txt. thanks for catching that!_

By the time they had gotten back to the school and Kaname help clear up that Sosuke had just 'borrowed' the car with one pending law suit later, the three of them found themselves in a cab headed back to the Davenport mansion. After Julie stomped out and was safely inside Kaname instructed the cab to take them back to the city. Getting out near a train station, Kaname led them to an train going in the wrong direction.

"This is not our train." Sosuke said as he followed her on board.

"Sosuke, I got fired today and I almost died. I wanna have some fun tonight. Besides, the little twit is not going to school tomorrow anyways. What do you say?" She said turning to him and flashing him her biggest, sweetest smile. That smile he was helpless against.

"Okay." he said, giving in. they should have at least ten hours before Julie was up, at the earliest.

"Great!" she said as she snuggled up next to him. He glanced over to her, looking at her now, in her 'professional' look, the suit and knee length skirt so different than the blue school outfit he had met her in.

They stayed liked that for a long time, until their stop was announced downtown in the trendy part of town were the night life was. They walked the streets, side by side admits the flashing lights and dull muted sound of the musics filtering out of the night clubs. Picking a club that had a fair amount of salary men walking into it, Kaname led Sosuke to the entrance. Sosuke paid for both of them as she took him by the hand and led him to the dance floor.

"Kaname," He said, leaning and shouting loud enough for her to hear, "I don't know how to dance."

"Neither do I!" She shouted back at him, "Just move to the music, its kinda like moving to the cover of artillery fire." she said as her body seemed to move on its own.

_Right, move with the sound. _He said to himself, trying to copy her moves as she gyrated on the dance floor. He watched her move to the music, as she opened her jacket, his eyes fixed on her hands as she unbuttoned the first few buttons of her blouse, her hands moving to the pulsating music.

Then the music ended, and she took advantage of the moment to say to him "Drinks?". He nodded in agreement as they made their way to the bar noting the eyes of the men fixed on Kaname, her long blue hair swaying with her hips as she walked ahead of him. _Did she always walk like that? _He asked as he too fixed on her backside before shaking his head and focusing on his surroundings. She sat down at the bar and he took a seat next to her.

"Give me two of something strong." she said to the bartender, a woman with vibrant, red short hair who just nodded as she slid two glasses with an odd mixture of colors their way.

"Kaname, I don't think I should drink alcohol." he said to her but was waved off.

"Have some fun for once, Sosuke!" she said, as she took a long pull from her glass. Mimicking her, he did the same, the drink burning its way down his throat. He decided against a second pull he watched Kaname down the whole thing and signal for a second.

"Are you sure you should be drinking so much?" he asked her, leaning in close. Kaname turned his way to same something her mouth open, but was cut off by the man on her other side.

"Hey buddy, if the girl wants to drink, let her." he said leaning over the counter to get a look at Sosuke.

"It's none of your-" he started to reply but stopped with Kaname squeezed his thigh.

"well, would you buy me something?" she said, looking back at him her hand lingering on Sosuke.

"Sure." he said with a silly smile. "Greg." He said, offering his hand to Kaname.

"Not from around here?" Kaname asked, switching to English as she shook his hand. "No." he replied. Sosuke had no problem following the conversation, but was confused by Kaname's behavior. She was ignoring him but still had her hand a little to far up his leg for comfort, the alcohol making his vision slightly blurry.

"Well, Greg, how about that drink?" she said.

"Sure. What ever the lady wants." he said to the bartender.

"Hmm, let me see..." Kaname said, fingering her lip with one hand, her other slipping to Sosukes pants pocket. He stiffened as she brushed his member, but her hand grasped around the taser he had instead, pulling it out.

"Hey, Greg? I'll have one of these..." she said and leaned closer as she tasered him. His body stiffened before he slumped face down on the bar.

"Oops, had too much to drink Greg?" Kaname said with an evil smile as she handed back the taser.

"Waaaaaa..." he slurred before falling off the bar stool to the floor.

"Lets go dance." Kaname said, taking Sosuke's drink and finishing it in another long pull before slamming it down and leading him by the hand to the dance floor as the DJ switched to a slower, more sensual beat. Threading their way through the crowded dance floor, men in suits and the women he preyed on them, she made her way to the center of the crowd and laced her hands behind his neck, drawing him close as they moved to the music.

"I love you Sosuke." she said leaning in, alcohol strong on her smile, before it turned to a frown. "Damn it, why can't I say this when I'm not drunk? You deserve better." she said tearing up.

"Kaname-"

"No. don't even start. You chased me all those months. And what did I do? Wait for you, I made you do all the work. And now I can't even be honest with my self and tell you I love you without acting like some drunken slut. Sosuke I-"

It was his turn to cut her off, pressing his lips to hers, her protest lost in her throat. Sosuke gripped her harder, pulling her close to him as they shared a kiss on the dance floor, with her guiding his hands lower on her hips until he could feel her panties under her skirt then savoring the smoothness of her thigh as she led his hands lower still as he cupped her ass.

"That was...wow." she said when they both parted for air. The song continued around them, but Sosuke's world consisted of just the two of them as she molded her body against his, the feel of her soft breast pressed to his chest, his hand still held in place on her ass by hers as she traced his jaw with her other hand, settling to nibble on his other ear as they moved slowly and out of rhythm with the music.

The music ended as they held each other on the dance floor before Kaname broke their embrace.

"I have to go to the ladies room." she whispered in his hear before disappearing. Sosuke headed back to the bar to wait for her, the feel of her lips on his still fresh on his mind.


	14. Chapter 13: Drunk Kaname is best Kaname

_hello boys! im baaaack! bonus points for who gets the refference. and as promsied, im back. life is a bit better, and a bit worse. getting my creative spark back a bit. might start a familer of zero fan fic. need to go back and marathon full metal panic. thank you all for sticking with me for so long, i feel guilty for leaving you hanging for so long. life is still shit, but i mean to finish this story if its the last thing i do (and it might very well be, lol)._

Kaname made it to the womens bathroom without tripping and walked in a mostly straight line. After emptying her bladder she stood in front of the mirror looking into her eyes. Some where along the way she had lost that innocent look, the face that looked back at her was harder, her eyes a bit colder. More like Sosuke's. She thought to her self. She blushed as she remembered her confession.

"Idiot!" she said as she bashed her head against the sink. What a wonderful love confession. A drunk idiot who then proceeded to cry all over him. It was like a bad movie or something. She knew sosuke loved her, he gave up everything for her, his life, his job for her. was this the best she could do?

Getting a hold of herself, she checked her makeup, then headed back out to find Sosuke. Threading her way through the dance floor, avoiding the occasional ass grabs by dancers too drunk to care, she found him sitting back at the bar with his back to her. Smiling as she walked up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Supprise." she said softly in his hear. Judgeing from his lack of response with a glock, she knew it wasnt really a suppirse.

"how do you do that?" she said, sliding in to the stool next to his.

"Do what?" he asked her.

"Know its me sneaking up behind you?"

He sat still, pondering the question. "Your feet move slightly out of sync. Also you shoes make a distinctive sound, they are new still and not broken in." he paused, "I can also smell you hair." he bit his lip before preceeding. "and you deoderant wore out a while back. After some years together running and getting shot at, you body smell is very distinctive." he said.

"Great! Wow! You know its me because I stink. You such a romantic!" she said angrily as she flagged down the bartender for another drink.

"Its not a bad thing. Its actually comforting. Makes me feel safe." he said to her as she pointedly ignored him for a while before cracking the barest hint of a smile.

"Comming from anyone else, that would still be an insult, Sosuke." she paused, "but thanks." she said as she leaned in for a kiss.

"What the actual fuck?!" came the angry voice from the floor a few stools down.

"Oops, i forgot about him." Kaname said, a little to giddy as Greg managed to climb back to his feet. Kaname stood up and went and hid behind Sosuke, her nose on his shoulder.

"That is no way to talk to a lady." Sosuke said, standing up.

"Thats no lady. she tasered me! And for no reasons!" Greg yelled.

"Well YOU should learn to mind your own business!" Kaname yelled back from behind Sosuke.

"You can't just go around assulting guys just 'cus they offer you a drink."

"You didn't offer me a drink, you were butting in a private moment between me and my boyfriend. do you have any idea how rare those are? most of the time with me and him its bombs and bullets." Kaname said, her hands waving in the air as her voice took on more volume, "but nooooo. you had to come along just as i was getting mister stuffy pants here to loosen up."

"I just thought he was being a jerk and tried to save you." Greg shot back.

"Thats your problem right there, YOU ARE TO STUPID TO BE THINKING!" Kaname screamed at him as the music stopped and people looked at them.

"Whats going on here?" came another voice from behind Kaname and Sosuke.

"Officer Wakana, i was assulted by these people." Greg said with a smug smile and Sosuke and Kaname both turned around slowly to face Yoko Wakana, the same officer who had nearly run them over after riding double on a bike. "I called the cops while you two were on the dance floor."

"YOU! Hands up in the air!" she yelled, a P90 in each hand. Sosuke, not wanting to risk civilians, slowly put his hand up in the air with Kaname following suite.

* * * * *

"What do you mean he has a permit?! how the hell can you have a permit for a civilian to carry this much firepower?" Wakana yelled at her chief from across the desk.

"Officer Wakana, i appreciate your concern, but after the A21 incident the Japanese goverment felt it was better to~"

"better? better! have you seen this list of what was on him? 2 pounds of C4, with several kinds of detenators, 4 frag gernades, 7 stun gernades, a beretta 92fs with 80 rounds of ammunition, FN57 with another 50 rounds for it, three different kind of stun guns, 16 micro canisters of tear gas, four illegal knives, 2 brass knuckles and finally, some kind of micro sized EMP device. it fried all the down stairs computers when some one accidently set it off. how is any of this okay? i don't know where he stores it all." Wakana trailed off to a mutter.

"Never the less, the Japanese goverment has issued a permit for, and i quote 'any and all manner of equipment and or firearms' for one Sosuke Sagara." the chief said from behind his desk.

"Fine, fine, i'll go and let them out of lock up." she said and started to turn to leave.

"Its already been done."

"But it was MY case!" Wakana said in protest.

"Yes, but given you unwholesome obsession with this young man, i felt it better to simply let them go."

Yoko Wakana's scream was heard down stairs.


End file.
